We. Would. CRY.: US Politics, July 2022

Seems quite possible the dems grow their senate majority while getting destroyed in the house thanks to gerrymandering and the personal unpopularity of the biden.

“The biden”?

hell if PA holds and in some (prob unlikely) timeline OH goes Dem, then they could ignore Manchin /*and* Sinema. but like would they? or will there be a new Manchinema

welcome to the Manchinema

it doesn’t matter if the house has a 30 seat Republican majority.

I guess it helps move judges quicker.

Graphic accompaning Axios story appears to be an elephant sweating cum?

― politics is about vibes and the vibes are off (stevie), Friday, July 15, 2022 7:16 AM (fifty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

why is msm not talking about this? ^

― We were clothed, except for Caan, who was naked. Don't know why. (Neanderthal), Friday, July 15, 2022 7:18 AM (fifty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Honestly this made me lol so fucking hard, kudos Neando.

Once again Senate progressives stall Biden's agenda.

the gop once nominated a guy too crazy to win in alabama, so who knows about some of these clowns

This is exactly what I mean. Roy Moore was/is a creep weirdo lunatic predator going up against a legit good person and legal hero, and he only lost by a mere 1.5%. Those are some serious headwinds.

Manchin is claiming we and others are wrong in our reporting, that he actually isn't blowing up talks, wants to see July inflation numbers, and then can decide on climate and tax. Which is NOT what Dems leader say he actually told him.

(fixed typo)

— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) July 15, 2022

I’m sure the July inflation numbers will be tiny, allowing him to suddenly jump on board the Biden Express.

This Manchin guy seems to have trouble expressing himself. Maybe take some classes?

Manchinema Paradiso

Maybe Trump runs in '24 as ... a pretend Democrat?

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/15/dems-dreaming-of-trump-pre-midterm-announcement-00045969

In other words, I'm sooo sure Democrats are falling all over themselves for Trump to rush into announcing a bid.

Not learning their lesson does seem pretty on-brand for Democrats.

Trump would love to take credit for Republican victories in November

Democrats love to be beaten by scoundrels

art of me is reluctant to flag the coverage of publications I routinely criticize, particularly when their electoral politics coverage can be so egregious. But I do so here with Axios because it’s an example that even the insider sheets in DC are starting to take notice of the fact that Democrats holding the Senate or even possibly expanding their Senate majority is not some partisan pipe dream. It’s a very real possibility.

Some of this is abortion politics and to a much lesser extent firearms politics. But a big, big part of the equation is that Donald Trump was able to more or less singlehandedly pick the nominees in a number of critical states and shape the choices in a number of others. There’s simply no way absent Donald Trump’s intervention that Mehmet Oz or Herschel Walker would be the nominees in Pennsylvania and Georgia. They are both uniquely bad candidates. They might slip through in a wave election. But they’re giving Democrats big, big opportunities. Tim Ryan is at least making a fight of it in Ohio, though that’s a very steep climb. Blake Masters in Arizona and possibly even disgraced former Governor Eric Greitens in Missouri could extend this pattern. Given recent trends, Missouri shouldn’t even be in contention this year. But Greitens’ mix of campaign ad snuff films and rep for sexual violence could put it there.

It won’t be easy to hold the Senate and it certainly won’t be easy to expand the Democratic majority. But both are looking more plausible to me than they did even seven or eight weeks ago.

Unless we're dead by then.

Is there a left-wing version of RINO? Does Pretendocrat work?

DINO's been in use since at least the '90s.

Not to be confused with the limo liberal, of course.

Probably should be something more animal-like, so they can be hunted in campaign ads.

https://bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dinosaurs.jpg

https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/604025/86333092.jpeg

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/07/joe-manchin-didnt-kill-biden-democrats-agenda-alone.html

Uh-oh, the Democrats have lost Chait

Donald Trump was able to unite his party behind an unpopular tax cut for the rich. Biden was unable to unite his party behind a popular reversal of that bill, or even a partial reversal. Political scientists have an explanation for both these things: The wealthy hold a disproportionate influence on both the elite in parties, pulling Democrats to the left of their voters on social issues, and Republicans to the right of their voters on economic issues.

Chait wrote this?! Damn.

Biden’s plan did include one measure that Democrats intended to seed permanent reform: an enhanced child tax credit. The bill funded the payments for just one year. They believed the payments would prove so popular that the public would demand they continue. Social scientists have unequivocally shown the payments reduced child poverty by impressive levels without the side effects on parental work effort that conservatives warned about. Yet Manchin opposed extending the payments anyway — reportedly muttering in private that his constituents were squandering the money on drugs

I think it’s important for normal people to understand that you’re really only ‘allowed’ to do drugs if you’re in your 50s and your parents are extremely wealthy & connected and can send you to a facility that costs 15k a month, where you will continue to do drugs.

The Hunter Biden Experience

https://prospect.org/economy/the-impossible-inevitable-survival-of-the-trump-tax-cuts/

Suddenly, the likes of Sinema, Gottheimer and Schrader and others were uninterested in raising taxes on corporations, capital gains, inheritances, pass-through businesses, wealthy households, or really anything or anyone else....Manchin finally became a full-fledged member of the pro-Trump tax cuts caucus last week, when he rejected any tax increases in reconciliation. The entire premise of Democratic policy for the last two years—use the rollbacks of the most unpopular (the only unpopular?) tax cut maybe in history to offset a new round of deeply needed public investment—was dead.

Republicans love to cosplay ICE agents the way 10 year olds like to pretend they're Avengers. https://t.co/UbarN9zzbd

— Schooley (@Rschooley) July 18, 2022

Suddenly, the likes of Sinema, Gottheimer and Schrader and others were uninterested in raising taxes on corporations, capital gains, inheritances, pass-through businesses, wealthy households, or really anything or anyone else....Manchin finally became a full-fledged member of the pro-Trump tax cuts caucus last week, when he rejected any tax increases in reconciliation. The entire premise of Democratic policy for the last two years—use the rollbacks of the most unpopular (the only unpopular?) tax cut maybe in history to offset a new round of deeply needed public investment—was dead.

― curmudgeon, Monday, July 18, 2022 12:29 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Look, the C-suite is hurting! After leaving the Delaware estate and pied-a-terre in Manhattan to decamp to Rockport for the pandemic, Junior got into another car wreck in his new Benz and the treatment facility is robbing us blind but they swear it works and he should be ready to run for Senate sometime before the decade is out.

Just when you thought MTG couldn't get any worse...

I'm really sick of this shit. Twitter should either enforce its rules and ban her or it should just get rid of the rules altogether and stop pretending. pic.twitter.com/17sUJMbOCF

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) July 18, 2022

twitter half took that post down (as in, they left it up but dont' display it until you click on it because they say it violated rules of hateful content, but 'people might want to see it anyway')

Probably should be something more animal-like, so they can be hunted in campaign ads.

― henry s, Friday, July 15, 2022 11:54 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Actually the DNC could do a really high-concept ad that’s a version of “A Sound of Thunder” where Bernie Bros go back in time to go DINO-hunting and return to a future of President MTG.

President MTG of the Penis Protection Party

Here's a little sideshow spectacle on my homefront, which is illustrative of various things: We have a state senate Republican primary where the incumbent is a retired U.S. Army doctor and heart surgeon who has been much better than most of his party on providing good information on COVID, and he is being challenged from the right by an aquarium entrepreneur and former pain patient who is a leading advocate for legalizing medical cannabis in Tennessee. Welcome to 2022.

"an aquarium entrepreneur"

"I am an American aquarium ... entrepreneur ... "

But can you boast a candidate from The Elven Way who looks like Haley Joel Osment cosplaying "Midsommar"? I think not. Though, frankly, he's no Goodspaceguy.

Conversions are possible...

Lunch with my male GOP co-worker:

GOP: Tea, I hate Beto. But I'm going to vote for him

Me (had to ask): Wait what?

GOP (tears): That tape, Tea.(Uvdale) No excuse. Abbott doesn't care. And Roe. (pause) And I actually believe that skinny motherfucker will fix that grid

Me: 🙆🏾‍♀️

— 🛹Alejandro Sosa’s Wife🛹 Red State Democrat (@SaintMystic) July 18, 2022

"that skinny motherfucker will fix the grid" = Underrated Prince Lyric

Put THAT on a bumper sticker

Beto: Cramp your calves, fix that grid

"that skinny motherfucker will fix the grid"
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain)

Underrated James McNew bootlegs I have owned

My make GOP coworker - “Betokanda forever”

Hopefully my state can get out there today (or went out last week, or mailed ballots) and show that we actually care about mid year elections in 2022

Mid term elections

WaPo: Secret Service cannot recover texts; no new details for Jan. 6 committee Not really dealt with in actual story, except for phones being replaced maybe, but otherwise, True Crime shows teach us that nothing is ever truly deleted---anyway, the story, with details I hadn't seen (and not paywalled):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/secret-service-texts/
Although it took me a while to get back to WaPo, after their handling of the 10-year-old rape victim-abortion refugee.

Clearly they just didn't want anyone to know how often they called out for pizza.